Around the globe, May 30 is recognized as World MS Day. This important day is centered on building awareness about multiple sclerosis (MS) and advocating for people living with it.

Although World MS Day is officially May 30, activities take place throughout May and June within the global MS community. This year’s theme is My MS Diagnosis, with the slogan, “navigating MS together.”

The emphasis of this year’s World MS Day is the need for early and accurate diagnosis of multiple sclerosis. Here’s more on World MS Day and how you can get involved.

How World MS Day Started

World MS Day is a global campaign that was founded in 2009 by the Multiple Sclerosis International Federation, also known as the MS International Federation (MSIF).

MSIF is a network of 49 MS organizations around the world. Together, the organization works with many other groups to fulfill their mission of supporting the 2.8 million people globally who are living with MS. MSIF’s five-year plan from 2023 includes:

• Supporting scientific MS research and advances in the prevention, treatment, and permanent end of MS
• Improving access to care, knowledge, and support for people with MS
• Strengthening and building an international MS movement

World MS Day supports these goals by mobilizing people to take action and build awareness about MS and the needs of people living with this condition.

This Year’s Theme and Why It’s Important

Each year World MS Day picks a theme to highlight a particular aspect of multiple sclerosis. This year’s theme — My MS Diagnosis — points to barriers to diagnosis of MS and why an early and accurate diagnosis is crucial.

As of now, there’s still no cure for MS. But an early diagnosis of MS helps ensure early treatment with disease-modifying therapies (DMTs) and other interventions.

Treatment with DMTs has been shown to improve quality of life with fewer and less severe MS relapses, along with a slower progression of symptoms and disabilities.

At the same time, barriers to diagnosis of MS are a problem around the world. One study published in the medical journal Neurology analyzed a survey that was conducted by the MSIF in 107 countries. The study showed that the main barriers to diagnosis were:

• Inadequate awareness of symptoms of MS among the general public, which can lead to misdiagnosis
• Lack of understanding of MS symptoms among people working in healthcare
• Not enough healthcare specialists who know how to properly diagnose MS

The Goals of World MS Day

World MS Day is a campaign to raise awareness about the importance of diagnosis. The goals of this year’s celebration include:

• Sharing stories and data on the diagnosis of MS
• Advocating for improved training in MS diagnosis for healthcare professionals
• Advocating for new research
• Advocating for better clinical practices for diagnosing MS
• Advocating for implementation of the updated McDonald criteria, which are current guidelines for diagnosing MS

World MS Day aims at influencing leaders who can help make the changes needed to improve diagnosis of MS.

How You Can Get Involved

There are numerous ways to get involved in World MS Day and help promote global solidarity on the importance of MS diagnosis. You can participate in an activity or spearhead an activity of your own. You can share a photo or story that highlights your MS diagnosis experience.

You can share resources online to help people better understand why an early and accurate MS diagnosis is so important. It’s possible to get involved in World MS Day in person or online.

Here are some of the ways you can participate.

Join or Organize an Activity

Many activities have been organized around the world for World MS Day. You can see if an activity is happening in your area by checking MSIF’s World MS Day map. If you attend, you might consider wearing an MS ribbon or other symbol.

You can organize an activity of your own — or work with an organization to organize an activity — and add it to the map. Activities can include events such as:

• Fundraisers
• Workshops
• Conferences
• Concerts
• Flashmobs

If you scroll through the activities listed on the map you’ll get ideas for activities you might want to help organize. Some World MS Day activities from last year are highlighted on the World MS Day website.

Participate in the MS Heart Challenge and Share Your Story

Show your support for people with MS by joining the MS Heart Challenge. You can do this by going to a place that’s special to you, forming a heart with your hands, and taking a photo.

You can share your MS Heart Challenge photo on the World MS Day Map and on social media such as Facebook, Instagram, or TikTok. Be sure to tag your photo with #WorldMSDay and #MyMSDiagnosis and write a short statement about why you chose a particular place to take your photo.

You can also share your MS diagnosis story on the World MS Day Map and tell the world how you were diagnosed and if there were any barriers to your diagnosis.

This helps spread the word about World MS Day. Submissions of photos to World MS Day close on May 30.

Share a My MS Diagnosis Poster and Other Resources on Social Media

The people at World MS Day have created a template for a poster that you can personalize with a photo of yourself and information about your MS diagnosis journey. They’ll make a personalized poster for you as part of the My MS Diagnosis campaign.

Just upload a photo and some basic information about when you were diagnosed, how long the diagnosis took, and what the main barrier was to diagnosis. If you give permission, your information will be used for research on MS diagnosis.

You can choose to share your personalized poster publicly in the World MS Day Gallery, share it on social media, or just keep it for yourself.

There are other tools available that you can use or adapt to create posters to share information about MS from the MSIF Atlas of MS or to promote a local World MS Day event.

Lighting Up Landmarks

Many monuments, landmarks, and buildings will light up orange for World MS Day. You can photograph yourself or record a video at one of these lit-up landmarks and upload it to the World MS Day map and share it on social media.

You can also contact landmarks in your area and ask them to participate in World MS Day’s Lighting up Landmarks campaign.

Share the World MS Day Free Online Course

In honor of World MS Day, the MS International Foundation has created a free online course to educate people about MS symptoms and diagnosis. The course is available until June 15.

You can share the course with family, friends, and your social media networks to help spread valuable knowledge about MS. There’s even a poster for the online course in the World MS Day toolkit that you can use when you share a link to the course.

Get the Word Out in the Media

If you’re part of an MS organization, you can urge them to use this adaptable press release to let your local media outlets know about World MS Day. You can add newsworthy information about your organization on the press release.

You can also write your own article or blog post about MS, hold a press conference, or share an important MS story with a journalist to increase media coverage of MS and World MS Day.

Join the Conversation

On MyMSTeam, people share their experiences with multiple sclerosis, get advice, and find support from others who understand.

Have you participated in World MS Day? Let others know in the comments below.